


Limbo

by poor_sickies



Series: Bad Things Happen [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Concussions, Gen, Hospitalization, Needles, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 06:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18330341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poor_sickies/pseuds/poor_sickies
Summary: Recovering from a crash like that isn't easy, and concussions usually feel much worse than they sound.





	Limbo

When Keith wakes up for the first time, it’s the middle of the night.

The few lights from outside make their way through the window in vague specks, mixing with the darkness and the dim brightness of the small lamp on the ceiling. 

There’s an eerie silence through the air, oddly comfortable, only broken by the soft and regular breathing of a hunched figure on his left side.

Squinting, Keith can make out Krolia’s shape in the darkness, head resting in her arms on the mattress by his chest, the fingers of her right hand curled up in his. 

He glances around before swallowing. He’s starting to feel hot and sweaty, and he can feel the beginning of a bad headache, the all too familiar sensation of painkillers about to wear off. His right hand moves upward, to feel around his hair, a strange discomfort around his head, but a sharp pain stops him. That hand is connected to an IV, and unless he wants to either rip out the needle or wake Krolia, he’s pretty much handless.

He would never admit it, maybe only to Shiro, but the needle stuck in his hand makes him nervous. He had never liked needles, much less like this, piercing his skin and staying for a long time, knowing that if he makes a sudden move with his right hand, the needle will rip through skin. The thought makes him queasy, so he pushes it to the back of his mind.

The headache gets worse, as the high of the painkillers he’s pretty sure he was on goes away. He starts being aware of other aches too, around his back and chest, bruises that press uncomfortably against the mattress, and a couple bandages around his wrist and upper arm. He wants to shift a little, to find a good position, but stays still instead, worried about the IV and the sick feeling in his stomach.

“Keith?”

Krolia hold his hand a little tighter as she wakes, immediately more alert, straightening up in her chair and leaning closer.

“You’re not feeling good…” she trails off, showing a sliver of panic Keith wasn’t used to see in his mother. Krolia seems to be considering her options, her face switching to a concentrated frown as she looks back and forth between Keith and the door. 

“Feel sick,” he mumbles, trying to swallow back the feeling, his fist tightening its hold on the sheets.

Krolia finally finds a button above the bed, before inching closer and rubbing his arm with soft circles.

“I think I called the nurse, she should come soon,” she says, never taking her eyes off his. “Are you going to throw up?”

Keith’s answer is a half nod half shrug, with a grimace that is a true testament to how terrible he’s feeling. The room keeps spinning around, like he’s swimming in circles, and the headache is only worse.He closes his eyes. 

“He’s feeling sick,” he hears his mother say distantly.

A container is shoved into his lap.

“In case you need to empty your stomach,” the nurse says, patting his shoulder gently. “The nausea is a normal symptom for the concussion.”

Keith’s fingers grip the kidney-shaped container, his knuckles going white, as he tries to shake off the sick feeling, swallowing desperately. He hates throwing up, and with his head throbbing like this, he can tell it will be one hundred times worse than usual.

With a heaving motion, he shakes forward and vomits, fortunately without missing the container. Krolia rubs his back with one hand, while holding his bangs back with the other.

When he’s done, the room is still spinning, and his head feels about to burst, leaving a ringing in his ears and cold sweat down his back.

Krolia helps him lean back into the mattress again, and he lets out a whimper when his head hits the pillow. With his left hand, he reaches for the bandages around his head.

Krolia probably notices his grimace, because she takes his hand in hers, stroking gently, trying to keep him from messing with the bandage. Keith almost laughs about how childlike it all is, but he has no energy left in him, and the feelings are too bitter anyway. 

“Do you want me to ask for some more painkillers?” She asks, more gentle than Keith had ever seen her. Something about him being in that hospital bed, in the state he’s in, probably makes her maternal instincts flare up. She keeps her calm demeanor, but everything is much softer.

Keith gives a short slow nod, closing his eyes. “Please.”

He has no energy to hide how bad he’s feeling right now. It’s one of the rare times in his life that Keith isn’t able to make an effort to pretend he’s okay, because he’s so tired. So tired, with a persistent, nagging headache and a sick feeling that won’t let him just lay back and be unconscious, and being stuck with an IV to that hospital bed doesn’t help much either. Feeling stuck seems pointless, seeing as he wouldn’t leave the bed even if he could, but frustrates him nonetheless. 

They had saved Earth, a Herculean task at it, but what about the rest of the universe? The burden weighs on his shoulders and makes him want to curl up in a ball and sob. It’s not over, and who know when it will be. If it will ever be. It’s too much, and it’s hard to fight the weight of loneliness in this hospital room, even with Krolia by his side.

He only flinches a little when the nurse comes back to inject something in his IV, and he’s able to fall asleep not long after, head lighter, the pain fading.

 

 

 


End file.
